Improvement in guard-fingers for harvesters



IINrrnn Sra-*ras Farrar* inicien.

MILES B. BIGGS, OF NEV YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN GUARD- FINGERS FOR HARVESTERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 34h26?, dated January28, 1862.

T0 @ZZ whom, it may concern..-

Be it known that I, M. B. BIGGS, of the city of New York, in the countyof N ew York and State of New York, have invented new and usefulImprovements in Guard-Fingers for MowingA and Reaping Machines; and I dohereby declare that the following is a full and complete description ofthe construction and operation of the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which-Figure l is a perspective view. Fig. 2 is a perspective view with the'center part removed. Fig. 3 is atop view with the center part removed,and Figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7 are detached parts.

The nature of my invention relates to the lierein-described constructionof the guardfinger and the mode of attaching a stationary steel cutterin each finger, which, in conjunction with the movable cutters, operatesupon the principle of shear-blades- The body of the guard-fingers, Figs.2 and 8, are made from cast metal, in the form represented in theigures, (but may be of any other desired shape,) the heel A being aboutone inch and a half broad and half an inch thick. The upper side ishollowed out, as seen at B, by which means both lightness and strengthare combined, together with facility in fitting to the finger-bar. Aboutthree inches from the heel A the guard increases in thickness onefourthof an inch, as seen at C, thus forming the seat of the iinger-bar.

At D there is a curved seat formed for the reception of the rod E, Figs.l and 4f, and

. which extends from 'linger to nger, being composed of one entire pieceof malleable iron; or it might be made in sections. At equal distanceson this bar,and corresponding with the position of the iingers on thefinger-bar, there are seniicircular enlargements or lugs, as seen at F,which iit into the cavity of the finger at G, Figs. 2 and 3, and aresecured by a screw-bolt or rivet, H, Fig. l, the bolt or rivet passingthrough the hole Hin Fig. 4, and through the hole I of the iinger, asseen in Figs. 2 and 3. The hole on the under side of the iinger iscountersunk, and the rivet or l bolt has a head, which rests upon thetop of the projection F, Fig. 7, as seen in the iigure; then, byhammering the lower end, it can be made to iit the countersiink hole inthe finger, as at L, Fig` 7. Vhen the fingers and bar are thus fastenedtogether, they are iirm and secure; but the fingers can be removed fromthe bar E by cutting oi' the head of the bolts with a cold-chisel, whenthe body of the bolts can be driven downward through the bar and iinger.The upper surface of the enlargement F falls about one-eighth of aninch, as seen at M, Figs. 4, 5, and 6, being wider in front, as at O,than in the rear, as at I?, Fig. 4, and dovetailing, as at Q, Figs. 5and 6. Into this dovetail depression is fitted the steel plate It, theforward end of which plate iits into the cavity B, as indicated by thedotted lines in Fig. 8. This plate R is shown in place in Fig. l. Theupper side is made smooth and level or slightly concave, the edges T Tbeing beveled like the blades of shears, the upper edge being thecutting-edge. The forward end may be rounded, as at U, Fig. 4:, to fitthe cavity in the finger at S, or it may be angled inward, as at V, andthe cavity in the finger made to correspond.

In putting the parts together after having been properly Iitted, theblades It are pnt into the dovetailed depression M, and the bar Eadjusted to the finger-body, as seen in Fig. 1, and riveted, as beforedescribed. The rivets may be inserted from the under side of theringer-body, and the head formed by liainmering down the point on thetop of the lug F.

I do not elaiin the counter-cutting plate per se, the saine having beenused in mowing and reaping machines before, but

Vhat I do claim as my improvement, and desire to secure by LettersPatent, is-

The bar E, made either entire or in sections, and provided with the lugsF, as described, when arranged in combination with the fingers andcounter-cutters, in the manner and for the purpose specified. y

M. B. RIGGS. -Witnesses:

J. BRAINERD, A. McULnLLAND,

